Wichita eagle., 1887-12-25

Festoons and wreaths hung in profusion,
| while large balls of holly adorned the
chandeliers and other fixtures of the
church. The holly came from Tennessee
and the other evergreens from Chicago.
On the right of the platform an antique
fire place and chimney with andirons IN
| the fire place and clock and lamp upon the
mantle with childrens' stockings hung on
either side. A banner bearing the inscrip-
| ton HE That Giveth to the Poor Lendeth
to the Lord was on the right OF the
chimney.
The design of this Christmas occasion
was intended TO inspire the spirit of giving
to the needy, and to teach the children the
blessedness there is in kindly and gener-
| Gus nature going out towards others, some
OF whom may not have all the comforts
they enjoy Accordingly the superintend-
ent, w (. Stanley, announced that ar
| ticles to relieve the wants of the poor and
needy in the community would be received
| on Christmas eve a most liberal response
was the result Hundreds of pounds of
| flour, orders for ten tons of GOAL pack
ages of coffee, oatmeal, potatoes, canned
goods, live fowls and many other things
were among the gifts besides considerable
cash. These contributions are taken
/ charge of by committee under authority
OF the church, and distributed As necessity
/ demands 1t is d most cOmmendable and
worthy effort to relieve the burdens Of the
! needy, and at he same time lnStIl IN the
( minds of the youth philanthroplc spirit.
The exercises Were not long nor tiresome
/ but consisted for the most part III that
which delights and benefits children. An
/ opening song by the school, then prayer by
/ W. B. Smith, were among the first on the
/ program; then a song by five little girls of
/ the primary Iclass and "a quartet Fling
| wide the gates" by Miss Clara Dunbar,
/ May Jones, Harry Dunbar and Robert
! Sweet. The same quartet also
sang 'Shine on O'Star"
! Old Santa Claus then made his appear
/ ance while the children slept i'll a happily
arranged bed upon the platform, and the
delight of the little ones was almost I'M
/ bounded. Glass No. II came with truck
/ load OF -four and other provisions; class
/ No / with flour: class No. II with orders
/ for three tons of coal; class No. IS with or
ders for SO; class No. 20 with orders for
! $50. and numerous other orders for coal
and cash.
/ Two Of the class rooms were almost filled
up with donations. In one room the -four
/ and other articles were piled up on either
! side higher than Il tall mans head, and it
may be safe TO say that many of the poor
and destitute where the judicious COM
mittee shall see fit to bestOw their gifts
Will pronounce blessings on the cheer
full gyer whom the Lord loveth.
! The school then sang piece and thanks
were extended TO the donors who had so
/ literally responded. The doXOlOgy was
sung and the happy children and their
friends dispersed to their homes happier
than they would have been if they had
been the sole recipients of gifts instead of
opening their hands to others.
DODGE ave. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The Sunday school children of this
church. to the number of about one hun
dred and fifty, assembled at the church at
Z O'Clock in the evening. a musical pro
gram had been prepared consisting of
Christmas songs. These were printed es-
pecially for the purpose and occasion, and
were sung with ii will After an lnvoca-
cation Rev. Mr.. Brown, pastor of the
church made a brief address, which was
mainly explanatory of a peculiar feature
of the celebration. This was the contri-
button by the school to the one-million-
dollar centennial fund of the Presbyterian
church. The fund is for the endowment
of the board of ministerial relief, helping
to provide moderate annuity for disabled
and superannuated ministers. The chill
dren had been provided with small barrels
with openings in the heads large enough
to admit a small coin. Each class was
called and the barrels were opened and the
money counted. No feature of the Christ
mas celebration was more important and
satisfactory than this 1t trained the
children to give as well as to
receive. The eagerness and delight of the
children, as they filed up with their offer
ings was a pleasure to see. The following